First published: 24th August 2011
A documentary on the Chinese Government's military and agriculture channel, CCTV 7 broadcast on 17th July 2011, and available online until 23rd August, appeared to show a cyber-attack tool in use. The original footage has now been replaced with other computer stock footage.
The imagery was used as background to a discussion about the potential and risks of cyber-warfare, and it seems likely that the editor did not understand the significance of those shots. The clip shows the selection of an attack destination, with the list including Falun Gong and Falun Dafa sites, but the selected destination is 138.26.72.17, an address that is allocated to the University of Alabama in Birmingham, USA, but not currently in use. The attack is not confirmed, but, instead, cancelled.
The Epoch Times, a USA-based newspaper founded in 1999 by Falun Gong supporters has a still image of the attack destination selection on their website and the F-Secure website has a 15 second clip of the aborted attack from the 22 minute program.
The fact that the PLA, and other leading militaries, have cyber-attack tools is no surprise, given previous discussions of cyber-warfare, but evidence that they have tools configured to attack the websites of civilian organisations must be an embarrassment to the Chinese Government.